Health Implications of Feeding Habits as Perceived by Upper Basic Education Students in Ona-Ara Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria

Eating a healthy diet is the cornerstone of all round growth and development for infants, children and adolescents therefore; too much intake of foods that contain large amounts of saturated fats, sugars and salt, combined with a low intake of fruits, vegetables and cereal foods lead can result to health problems. This study examined health implications of feeding habits as perceived by upper basic education students in Ona-Ara Local Government Area, Oyo State, Nigeria. The descriptive research design of the survey method was used for this study. The population used for the study comprised all upper basic education students (public mixed schools) in Ona-Ara Local Government, Oyo State. Multi-stage sampling technique, consisting of simple, proportionate and systematic sampling technique was used to select 439 respondents in upper basic education schools (public mixed schools) in Ona-Ara Local Government, Oyo State. Researcher-designed questionnaire validated by 3 experts drawn from the Department of Health Promotion and Environmental Health Education, University of Ilorin, Nigeria, was used for data collection. A reliability co-efficient of .84r was obtained through Split-half method using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). Data collection was conducted by the researcher and three trained research assistants. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentage for demographic information as well as inferential statistics of Chi-square (X2) to test the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. The findings of the study showed that: i.            Eating habits have significant influence on diseases as perceived by upper basic education students because calculated X2 value (70.05)  > critical value (12.59); ii.            Eating habits have significant influence on body weight as perceived by upper basic education students because calculated X2 value (68.05)  > critical value (12.59); and iii.            Eating habits have significant influence on body posture as perceived by upper basic education students because calculated X2 value (496.63) > critical value (12.59). The study concluded that eating habits have significant influence on diseases, body weight and body posture among upper basic education students in Ona-Ara Local Government, Oyo State. The findings implied that food intake can determine the overall wellbeing of the students, excessive intake and preference of some classes of food can lead to weight gain and intake of poor diet can result to bad posture. It was recommended that upper basic education students in Ona-Ara Local Government area of Oyo State should be given more enlightenment by health educators on diseases associated with poor feeding habits and proper orientation on exercises and food rich in calcium to avoid bad posture should be given to them. Keywords: eating habits, diseases, body weight and body posture

COTTON FARMERS’ PERCEPTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND ADAPTATION STRATEGIES IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

Climate change has been a major threat to agriculture in Nigeria. This study was carried out in Imeko Afon Local Government Area. Purposive selection of all practicing cotton farmers (54) at the time of survey was made from the study area. The mean age of respondents is 56years. The household size is 7persons and the average annual income is N9, 972.00k. The mean score of famers’ perception about the climate change and its effects on cotton production is 2.62. Farmers’ stated that there is an increase temperature due to change in climatic condition (Ẍ= 3.45, S.D ± 1.152), and fluctuation in rainfall pattern (Ẍ= 4.04, S.D ± 0.999). Adopted coping strategies to cushion effects of climate change include; increase use of agro-chemicals (Ẍ = 3.35, S.D ± 0.677), integrated weed pest management (Ẍ = 3.44, S.D ± 0.839) and application of fertilizer to improve the depleted soil nutrients (Ẍ = 3.19, S.D ± 0.646). Results indicates a significant relationship between respondents perceived effects on climate change and coping strategies (r =0.890**, P< 0.05). The study recommends that government agricultural and meteorological agencies should provide timely information to farmers on the climate and means of ameliorating the effects of climate change.     &nbsp

Evaluation of some Heavy Metals in Soils along a Major Road in Ogbomoso, South West Nigeria

Evaluation of the concentration of soils metals (Pb, Cd, Cr, Zn, Mn, Cu, Fe, and Ni) from selected sites (Odo Oba, Sabo and General Areas) along a major road in Ogbomoso was made in comparison with control site, LAUTECH Campus (LC) based on contamination factor and pollution indices. The metal levels in the sites revealed that: General > Sabo > Odo Oba > LC for the analyzed metals except Fe of which highest value was obtained in the control site. Contamination indices showed that Sabo and general were considerably polluted while Odo Oba was moderately polluted relative to control. The values of pollution level index obtained for these three sites (PLI >1) indicates deterioration of site quality. Significant correlation between some of the metals (Pb, Cr and Ni) studied and average daily traffic volume showed that the contamination could be from automobile emissions. The accumulation of these metals in soil especially in the residential areas may add to the body burden of the residents. Further investigation is highly necessary to study the concentrations and health implications of these metals in residents of the linear settlements along this major road in Ogbomoso. Key words: Heavy metal, Traffic volume, Pollution, Soil, Ogbomos

Influence Of Social Studies Education On Students’ Response To Corrupt Practices

This study investigated the responses of Social Studies and non Social Studies students to corrupt practices in Nigeria. The sample consisted of 439 final year B.Ed. students of six selected tertiary institutions covering the four geo-political zones in Nigeria. The major instruments employed were an unstructured interview and a set of questionnaire whose items covered the following areas: giving and taking of bribes, fraudulent practices, election and examination mal-practices, and reporting of lost and found properties to the appropriate authorities. Frequency counts, percentages and T- test were used to analyze the data. The result revealed that there was no significant difference between the two groups in their tendency toward corrupt practices. One of the recommendations was the need to integrate citizenship education into the Social Studies curriculum at all levels of education. Anti – corruption clubs should be established in all schools to help in curbing corrupt tendencies of students.     &nbsp

Impact of Class Size on Learning, Behavioral and General Attitudes of Students in Secondary Schools in Abeokuta, Ogun State Nigeria

Poor performance of university undergraduate students has been traced to their poor academic performance and attitudes in secondary schools. There was concern over whether class size was responsible for this. Researches on the effect of class size on academic performance and achievement exist. The study was carried out to investigate the impact of class size on students’ attitude to studies using four (4) selected secondary schools in Abeokuta, Ogun State Nigeria. Possible effect of class size on the general, learning and behavioral attitudes were considered. Its impact was also correlated with effect of other possible factors. Questionnaires were administered to three hundred and sixty students selected evenly from JSS1-SS2 classes in each of the schools. Two of the schools were private while the other two were owned by government. Ten (10) hypotheses were tested in the study. It was found that class size has a highly significant impact on students’ attitudes to studies in secondary school (p\u3c 0.05). It affects students’ attention most strongly, then punctuality, motivation and participation but not the rate of participation and asking or answering questions. The result also revealed that excessive noise is the most common behavioral attitude associated with large classes. Hence, a serious attention should be paid to class size in every educational setting for optimum learning achievement

A Framework for Multimedia Data Hiding (Security)

With the proliferation of multimedia data such as images, audio, and video, robust digital watermarking and data hiding techniques are needed for copyright protection, copy control, annotation, and authentication. While many techniques have been proposed for digital color and grayscale images, not all of them can be directly applied to binary document images. The difficulty lies in the fact that changing pixel values in a binary document could introduce Irregularities that is very visually noticeable. We have seen but limited number of papers proposing new techniques and ideas for document image watermarking and data hiding. In this paper, we present an overview and summary of recent developments on this important topic, and discuss important issues such as robustness and data hiding capacity of the different techniques

PIPELINE VANDALISATION AND FARMERS’ SITUATION: EXPOSITION FROM OBAFEMI OWODE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

The study assessed the effects of pipeline vandalisation on the socio-economic life and activities of farmers in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State. Purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to select 80 farmers from the affected villages in the Local Govern- ment Area. Primary data were obtained with interview guide. Chi-Square was used to analyze the data collected. The mean age of the farmers was 43.37 years and 78.7% were male. Majority (76.3%) were married while 61.2% were Christians. More than half (57.5%) had no formal education and they cultivated an average of 4.94 hectares of land. Most (92.0%) of the farmers operated on full time basis. Nearly all the farmers (97.5%) were aware of the incidents of pipeline vandalisation in their area. Efforts of the farmers at reducing the menace included warning messages through town criers, reporting cases to the law enforcement agents, threat of killing the vandals and the use of “charms†to scare the vandals. Majority (52.5%) claimed that the efforts made by the farmers and the government had no effect on the incident of pipeline vandalisation. Farmers’ perceived effect of pipeline vandalisa- tion on their activities and livelihood included non-availability of labor due to the youths’ involvement in the practice (82.5%), destruction of farmlands (76.25%) and pollution of rivers and atmosphere (65.0%). Farmers were constrained by corrupt law enforcement agents in charge of surveillance, un- cooperative attitude of fellow farmers, non-challant attitude of the government and lack of fund to or- ganize campaigns against pipeline vandalisation. Chi-square analysis showed a significant association between pipeline vandalisation and farmers’ agricultural production. It was concluded that pipeline vandalisation was a regular occurrence in the study area and that it constituted a health hazard and posed a problem to the environment as well as the agricultural activities of the farmers.Â

SEASONAL VARIATIONS IN THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF GRASSES HARVESTED FROM THE NATURAL PASTURE IN OGUN STATE SOUTH-WESTERN NIGERIA

The research was carried was carried out to evaluate the chemical composition of the dominant grasses harvested from the natural pasture in selected villages in Ogun State, South-western Nigeria at different seasons. The study was carried out using a 4 × 6 factorial arrangement comprising four seasons (early rain, late rain, early dry and late dry) at six locations (Afami, Atokun, Ibooro, Ileniku, Ipaaya, and Okerori). Results showed that the crude protein (CP) content significantly (p<0.05) varied from 5.56 % for Okerori to 7.34 % for Ibooro and the grasses harvested at Afami had the highest (72.75 %) neutral detergent fibre (NDF) values with the least (68.75 %) value recorded for Okerori, while the acid detergent fibre (ADF) values ranged from 41.00 % for Atokun to 48.25 % for Okerori. Also, CP value as affected by the season ranged from 4.23 % for late rainy to 9.44 % for the early rainy season and NDF values from 67.33% for late dry to 72.33 % for late rainy season while the early dry season had the highest value (48.00 %) for ADF with the least value (40.33 %) was recorded for the early rainy season. The phosphorus (P) value was highest at Ipaaya (2.99 g/kg) with the least value observed at Okerori (1.62 g/kg). The value for calcium ranged from 2.55 g/kg at Afami to 6.59 g/kg at Okerori. The P value of grasses as affected by seasons ranged from 1.46 g/kg for early dry to 2.66 g/kg for early rainy seasons.   &nbsp

Influence of manure application during cultivation on in vitro gas and post incubation parameters of nine Pennisetum purpureum varieties

Forages are generally available in the tropics yet the issue related with their utilization is low efficiency and nutritional contents whereby seasonal variations in pasture productivity were the significant constraint to their availability for use throughout the year. This research was carried out to evaluate the Influence of manure application during cultivation on in vitro gas production and post-incubation parameters of nine (9) different Pennisetum purpureum varieties. The experiment was a 9 x 3 factorial arrangement in split plot design which comprises of nine (9) P. purpureum varieties (Abeokuta 1, Abeokuta 2, F1 Hybrid, Green Local, Purple Local, Sugarcane, South Africa, S13 and S15) and three (3) manure types (control, swine and cattle). Results showed that the in vitro gas production of different P. purpureum varieties as affected by manure type were significant (p < 0.05). Unfertilized varieties had the highest volume of gas produced (17.14ml/200mgDM) at the end of the 48 hours incubation periods and the green local variety recorded the gas volume of 18.33ml/200mgDM at the end of the 48hours incubation. The post incubation parameters showed that manure type (p>0.05) had no effect on the short chain fatty acid (SCFA) and Metabolizable energy (ME) in the varieties of P. purpureum while the values for organic matter digestibility (OMD) was significantly (p < 0.05) ranged from 33.68% in unfertilized varieties to 35.72% when swine manure was applied. It is concluded that green variety of P. purpureum will be the best for ruminant feeding in this study